It's well-known, at least to people who know their history, that the Democratic Party after the Civil War formed the Ku Klux Klan to keep black Americans down after the Republican President Lincoln and the Congress abolished slavery.

When blacks were freed from their Democrat masters, the former slave holders just couldn't stand it. Having already had their behinds kicked all up and down the Mason-Dixon line by the Union, and mostly afraid to openly go against federal authority again, the Democrats took to wearing robes and hoods to hide their identities and began terrorizing blacks who were deemed "uppity" during nighttime raids.

Their trademark symbol became the burning cross, a dreaded sign that appeared in front of many homes and businesses as a warning that despite what the law said, the forces of tyranny and bigotry were hard at work making sure that ordinary people knew where the real power lay.

Now Grayson is going back to his party's roots and reviving the tradition of using a burning cross to put down people who oppose tyranny and lawbreakers.

In an email sent to his supporters, Grayson, who has a reputation of hate mongering and slandering conservatives, included a color picture of a burning cross used as the "T" in the words "Tea Party." The picture included the caption "now you know where the T comes from."

Under criticism for using a picture of a burning cross,* Grayson doubled down with another missive in which he cited numerous alleged examples of Tea Party racism, none of them with any corroborating proof. Then he also included a picture of President Obama dressed as some sort of shaman with bananas Photoshopped into his hair and claimed it came from the Tea Party.

Demonstrating his own ignorance or perversely evil personality (take your pick), Grayson rails about alleged Tea Party racists and homophobes, yet he's the one engaged in emailing pictures of burning crosses and Photoshopped pictures of Obama to his constituents.

It's the same white Southern Democrat tactics that have been used for 150 years. The only difference is that now the Democrats feel they have black Americans in their pocket (just where they've always wanted them), so they're going to use intimidation, slurs and lies to go after their current enemies, the Tea Party.

Look at the Tea Party principles: Lower taxes (empowering the poor and middle class); constitutional (i.e. lawful) government; and free markets (as in opportunity for all).

Those three points are a dire threat to the Democratic Party, which remains the same oppressive, anti-American, anti-freedom, lying bunch of jackals and cutthroats it has always been.

The fact that the Democrats have switched from their old tactics of lynchings and standing in front of schools to stop desegregation just means they have better PR these days.

They still support eugenics against blacks, Latinos and the poor through their support for abortion, which disproportionately affects those groups.

They still promote programs that keep generations of blacks and Latinos in poverty and discourage them from getting an education and improving their communities.

They still try to keep women down through a "feminism" that breaks up families, teaches women to be sluts (and proud), and encourages welfare-dependent single motherhood while calling it "empowerment."

The pandering to the homosexual rights movement is just a cynical ploy for votes by congressmen and women who openly mock their oblivious homosexual supporters behind their backs when the microphones are off.

So it's really no surprise that an angry, hypocritical guy like Grayson would dip into his party's historical bag of tricks and pull out a burning cross.

In defending his slanders against the Tea Party, Grayson said, "If the hood fits, wear it."

Grayson should take his own advice. I'm sure he's got a hood in his closet that fits over even his big, fat head.